Treatment for Stage Fright

Stage fright doesn’t have to paralyze you. At some point, everyone feels this fear, from professional actors to businessmen at a meeting. Stage fright ranges in severity from a common performance anxiety to a social phobia that needs medical intervention.

Board-certified psychiatrists, like Dr. Daniel Hall-Flavin at the Mayo Clinic, delineate the differences in treatment for the various types of stage fright from coping techniques to medication.

 

6 Steps to Treatment for Stage Fright

 

1. Relax

Slow, deep breaths and a conscious decision to relax can help simple cases of nervousness.

 

2. Focus

Keep your focus on your performance, not on your feelings or the audience.

 

3. Be Prepared

Know exactly what you need to say and practice it, preferably before a mirror.

 

4. Support Groups

To overcome a more serious case of stage fright, find a support group to train you in public speaking. Toastmasters, a well-known organization, teaches people the skills needed to speak before an audience, which can help instill a higher degree of confidence.

 

5. Medication

If the fear cannot be overcome with coping techniques or additional training, a doctor may prescribe beta blockers. Although this medication is often used to treat high blood pressure, it has been shown to have a calming influence.

 

6. Counseling

Sometimes this phobia disrupts a person’s life to a severe extent. In this case, medication combined with counseling may offer help.

 

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